Men's Lacrosse | 2/26/2016 8:57:00 AM

ITHACA, N.Y. — One of the biggest challenges for a sports team is managing expectations, especially when the expectations are as high as they are for the nationally-ranked Ithaca College men's lacrosse team.

But with a core group of four senior leaders — Eli Gobrecht, Scott Sidnam, Michael Walker, and Andrew Dietz — returning to anchor a squad filled with talent on both sides of the field, staying humble and grounded will not be an issue, according to the captains of the team.

That is especially true when talking about the team's motto for the season, stacking 24s. The phrase is meant to inspire the 36 student-athletes on the team to get into the habit of having one good day after another, building on the past successes while striving for improvements each day.

Ithaca returns six of its top eight point scorers along with Sidnam, the Empire 8 Goalie of the Year, and Gobrecht, an All-American defender.

Coming off the program's fourth straight season with 12-plus wins, head coach Jeff Long's Bombers, who boast three All-Americans, enter the upcoming season ranked in a pair of national polls.

Ithaca, which went 13-5 (7-1 Empire 8) in 2015 and advanced into the Empire 8 championship, is ranked 16th in the United States Intercollegiate Lacrosse Association (USILA) Coaches' preseason poll, and is 19th in the LaxMagazine.com preseason poll.

The Bombers open the 2016 campaign Saturday with a 1 p.m. contest at Marywood (Pa.) University

"This is the most talented team we've had in my four years here, and we probably have the best freshmen class, too," said Sidnam, a four-year starter who went 13-4 with a 7.44 goals-against average with a .556 saves percentage in 2015, ranking second in the Empire 8 in goals-against average and third in saves percentage.

"Our goals start with winning the Empire 8 championship. The seniors know this is our last year and we want to make the most of it. We know we're capable of winning an Empire 8 championship and on top of that, we think this is a team that can make a run in the NCAA tournament as well."

The Bombers earned the No. 2 seed for the Empire 8 tournament and hosted and won an Empire 8 semifinal against Stevens before suffering a 9-8 setback against top-seeded Nazareth in the championship. It was Ithaca's ninth appearance in the conference championship in 12 years.



Sidnam was joined on the all-conference squads by Gobrecht, John Januszkiewicz (attack), and Jack Shumway (attack).

Gobrecht was named second-team All-American, while Sidnam and Shumway earned honorable mention recognition from the USILA.

Gobrecht, who was named Preseason All-American by Nike/Lacrosse Magazine, appeared in and started all 18 games in 2015, collecting 72 groundballs while causing a team-high 52 turnovers. Thanks to Gobrecht and an aggressive Ithaca defense, the Bombers led the conference in goals-against average (7.56), surrendering 137 goals in more than 1,087 minutes.

The Bombers held six opponents to five goals or fewer, and the defense tightened up and allowed only 6.75 goals per game in eight conference clashes.

Ithaca graduated a pair of key seniors on defense, but Gobrecht expects big things from the Ithaca defense. Gobrecht will likely be joined in the starting lineup on defense by sophomores Keith Morrissey and Winston Wenham to form a stout defensive unit for Long's squad.

"We're just hungry. The seniors and juniors have been there before when we've gotten to the NCAA tournament after winning the Empire 8 championship. Just to see both sides of the coin, what it's like to win and what it's like to lose, it makes us hungry and ready to get back to the championship," said Gobrecht, a two-time All-Empire 8 tournament team honoree who ranked in the top 15 nationally in caused turnovers last year.

"On defense, we try to put a lot of pressure on the ball and make it hard for our opponent. We throw a lot at them and have a lot of talented poles. … We try to play with speed all over the field, especially on the defensive side of the ball. We like to cause turnovers, wreak havoc and get the ball back to our offense as much as possible."

Featuring two-way midfielders like Walker, sophomores Greg Drillock and Stephen Morrell, and freshman Josh Della Puca, along with Dietz, a senior long-stick midfielder, the Bombers expect to employ a fast-paced style of play that emphasizes getting the ball up the field and pushing the tempo whenever possible.

"I'm really confident this year in our midfielders. We have two to three really solid lines and this is the deepest we've been in my time in the midfield," said Walker, who appeared in 10 games and scored 11 points on eight goals and three assists in 2015.

"We don't have any defensive midfielders so our main game this year is going to be transition offense. We will be flying up and down the field and we're going to be constantly moving the ball as fast as we can, dodging and going to the cage really hard."

Shumway led the Bombers in goals (42), points (71), and assists (29), and was one of 11 student-athletes to score 10 or more points in 2015.

Joining Shumway on that list of potent returning scorers are: junior John Januszkiewicz (41G, 19A, 60 points), sophomores Jake Cotton (17G, 23A, 40 points), Morrell (11G, 7A, 18 points) and Kaelan Fitzpatrick (11G, 5A, 16 points), and junior Sean Ferrito (7G, 5A, 12 points).

"We're excited to get that first game under our belt. We think we can be very good and we haven't had a bad day of practice yet," said Shumway. "We learned a lot from our mistakes last year and in not being able to finish games that cost us a couple of times last year."

With another year of experience playing against national powers like RIT, Nazareth, and Cortland, Januszkiewicz said this year's Bombers are mentally tough and ready to close out games, something that hampered them in tough losses to No. 1 RIT, No. 15 Cortland, and a regular-season loss to No. 19 Nazareth. In each of those contests, Ithaca enjoyed a fourth-quarter lead only to come up short.

"It's going to be hard for defenses to know who to put their No. 1 defenseman, their No. 2 defenseman, and their No. 3 defenseman on when playing us, and we will have a great matchup due to our depth," Januszkiewicz said. "Our midfield is very good and our strength is we have a lot of numbers at the midfield that can go and that will put a lot of pressure on defenses. We've all learned from our past experiences and we're prepared for this year. We just have to take it one game at a time, don't get ahead of ourselves, stay healthy, and always keep our end goal in mind."

The Bombers' captains are: Dietz, Gobrecht, Januszkiewicz, Sidnam, and Walker.

After playing at Marywood, Ithaca welcomes Lycoming (Pa.) College to Higgins Stadium at 4 p.m. Wednesday, and Oswego State at 4 p.m. March 9.

The Bombers play three games against top-20 teams in No. 3 RIT (away April 19), No. 8/11 Cortland (home March 30) and No. 16/18 Nazareth (home April 9).